How to Plan a Wedding for a Royal Spy (11 page)

Gilbride showed his blinding white teeth in a broad grin. “Nay, lassie, you'll no' be getting rid of me that easy. I have every intention of assisting you ladies down to the supper room.”

As gloomy as Evie was feeling about the ugly episode with Will and his father, she couldn't stifle a spark of amusement. Gilbride's brogue seemed to be a matter of convenience for him, adopted when he wished to annoy or tweak someone.

Like her twin.

“That's entirely unnecessary,” Eden responded in a blighting tone. “Evie and I will go down together, and Mr. Beaumont will escort my mother.”

“Oh, of course,” Michael said, suddenly springing to life. “It would be my honor to escort Lady Reese to the supper room.”

He peered at Evie with a perplexed expression on his face, and she felt a stab of guilt that she'd practically forgotten his very existence. She made a silent promise to stop thinking about Will and focus on the blessings right under her nose.

“It would be lovely if you took Mamma down,” she said, smiling at Michael. “I, for one, would be happy to sit and chat in a quiet corner for the rest of the evening.”

“Well, I wouldn't,” her mother said huffily. “But I suppose we should go now if we want to find a seat that isn't in a draft. Her Grace's public rooms are exceedingly drafty, I'm sorry to say.” She bestowed a gracious smile on Gilbride, pointedly ignoring Michael. “Captain Gilbride, I would be most pleased if you escorted me to the supper room. Mr. Beaumont can follow with the girls.”

Even Gilbride looked a little nonplussed by her mother's rudeness. Michael simply shrugged and gave Evie a small, understanding smile. Despite Gilbride's inanities, Mamma obviously found an heir to a Scottish earldom preferable to a younger son of a Catholic aristocrat—even if that younger son came from a wealthy and distinguished family.

Gilbride recovered quickly. “I'd be delighted, your ladyship.” He moved with alacrity to her mother's side, but smiled at Michael as he did so. “And perhaps while we're having a bit of refreshment, Mr. Beaumont and Miss Evelyn can tell me a bit more about their charitable endeavors.”

Mamma rolled her eyes but refrained from commenting as she took the captain's arm.

When Eden linked her hand through Evie's right arm, Michael moved around to her left. They fell into the slow-moving stream from the ballroom to the supper room, following in their mother's wake.

“I quite like Captain Gilbride,” Michael said in a musing tone. “He strikes me as a genuinely kind man.”

“He's a complete oaf,” Eden huffed, sounding alarmingly like their mother. “I don't know how you can stand to spend so much time in his company.”

“He's not an oaf,” Evie said. “He just wants us to think he's one.”

Michael nodded. “I would agree with your assessment. I wonder why he would wish anyone to think him so clownish.”

“Because he is a clown?” Eden commented.

Evie frowned at her sister. It wasn't like Eden to be so ungenerous, even toward someone who annoyed her. She was impetuous and sometimes impatient, but never mean-spirited.

Her twin sighed. “Don't mind me. I'm just annoyed that the Duke of York so roundly snubbed you. It was awful of him.”

“You saw that from across the room?” Evie asked.

“It was quite evident to anyone watching,” Michael said. Oddly, he didn't sound put out about it.

“And I'm
truly
annoyed with Will for not escorting you back,” Eden said. “Whatever could he have been thinking?”

“It wasn't his fault,” Evie said. “The duke all but ordered Will to stay with him.”

“A true gentleman would have seen to your comfort first,” Michael said.

His tone confirmed he saw Will as a threat, and that made Evie feel guilty all over again. She held her tongue, swallowing her instinctive urge to defend Will.

“I will give Gilbride some credit in this situation,” Eden said. “He obviously figured out the problem and took it upon himself to act. I wouldn't have thought a big dolt like him could move so quickly.”

Evie darted a nervous glance forward. They were separated from the captain and their mother by only old Lady Hanson and her two daughters. Fortunately, Mamma seemed to be happily chattering away with Gilbride, claiming his full attention.

“Don't be silly, Evie,” her twin said, knowing, as usual, what she was thinking. “They can't hear anything we're saying.”

Just then, Gilbride glanced over his shoulder, straight at Eden. One of his eyebrows lifted in what could only be described as a sardonic tilt.

“Well, I'll be damned,” Eden muttered under her breath.

Evie hushed her, but her sister simply grinned. Still Evie did notice that Eden flushed a bit, probably with embarrassment.

They made their way down the broad staircase and turned into the supper room, two large drawing rooms normally separated by pocket doors but now open to create a space large enough for the necessary number of small and medium-size tables, covered in crisp white linen. At least half were already occupied, but Gilbride deftly steered them to a larger table by a set of French doors that lead to the terrace.

With a sigh of relief, Evie sank into one of the little chairs grouped around the oval table, and glanced around. “Where did Mamma go?”

“Lady Reese wished to speak with Lady Castlereagh,” Gilbride said, nodding to the other side of the room. “She said she would join us shortly.” He snagged an empty chair from a nearby table and placed it next to Evie. “There, we'll save that for Will. No doubt he'll be along any moment.”

Evie had just started to relax, but that notion sent her nerves jumping again. She didn't know whether she wanted Will to join them or not. Probably not, given the exciting but disturbing question he'd asked her just before the duke interrupted them.

Eden glanced toward the door. “Yes, I see him coming.” She frowned, squinting. “Who is that with him? I can't tell from this distance.”

Evie turned in her chair, praying he wasn't with the duke. Then she froze, realizing the truth was much worse.

Will was escorting Lady Calista Freemont, daughter of the Marquess of Corbendale and one of the nastiest people Evie had ever met. She'd attended Miss Ardmore's Select Academy for Young Ladies with Calista and had frequently been the target of the older girl's mean-spirited pranks.

Though Calista was both pretty and rich, her gruesome personality kept her from making a spectacular match. Will, unfortunately, wouldn't know that, given all his years spent abroad. Right now he seemed fairly enamored, smiling down at Calista as she batted her eyelashes in bold flirtation.

“Oh Lord, not her,” Eden groaned.

Gilbride had been talking to Michael, but Eden's comment brought his head up. He craned his neck forward like a turtle coming out of its shell, then sat back and shook his head with disapproval.

“Idiot,” he muttered.

Evie sent up a fervent prayer that Will and Calista would sit somewhere else, but Michael got to his feet and waved his napkin, drawing their notice.

“Doesn't he know what a shrew Calista is?” Eden hissed to Evie.

“He knows,” Evie replied with a scowl.

Will caught sight of them and waved back, and Evie's faint hope that she'd be spared another humiliating scene died with a whimper. After tonight, she
would
do her best to avoid Will, since he'd obviously developed a knack for pitching her into dreadful situations. And why he was flirting with Calista—and he clearly
was
flirting—after doing the same with her less than a half hour ago was a mystery. She'd never thought of Will as the sort to play fast and loose with a woman's feelings, but perhaps she was wrong about that.

Just like she'd been wrong all those years ago when she thought he was in love with her.

As Will and Calista approached, Gilbride got up and took the seat next to Evie, the one he'd set out for Will only a few minutes ago. He leaned close and murmured. “Just ignore him when he's acting like a clodpole, Miss Evie. That's what I do.”

She gave him a weak smile, startled by the revelation that he obviously knew something about her embarrassing history with Will. Even worse, Gilbride seemed to think it still mattered to her.

Which, unfortunately, it did.

“Good evening,” Will said with a smile. “May we sit? We don't want to put you out, but most of the tables are full.”

“Of course they won't mind,” Calista said with honeyed malice. “Evelyn and I are old friends, are we not? And Eden, as well.”

Eden eyed Calista like she was a poisonous viper about to strike. Fortunately, her twin held her fire, for once deciding not to raise a fuss.

Michael and Gilbride came to their feet.

“You are most welcome to join us,” Michael said with alacrity. He gazed down at Evie with an encouraging smile. “You don't mind, do you?”

Evie had to clear her throat before she could answer. “Of course not.”

Will fetched an empty chair from an adjacent table, and they all shuffled to make room. Michael resumed his seat next to Evie and spoke to her in a quiet tone. “I didn't realize you were friends with Lady Calista. I'm happy you have the chance to spend some time with her.”

“I'm not, on both counts,” Evie ground out between clenched teeth.

“Oh, well,” he said vaguely. “Captain Endicott seems quite chummy with her though, don't you think?”

Evie couldn't muster a polite response and didn't even try.

“Beaumont's jealous of Wolf,” Gilbride murmured from her other side. “That's why he's acting like a ninny.”

Evie held back a sigh. Either Gilbride was a great deal more perceptive than most people gave him credit for, or she was ridiculously transparent. Neither thought provided any comfort.

“He has no reason to be, I assure you,” she replied in a cool voice.

“Lady Calista tells me that you and Eden attended school with her,” Will said in a hearty voice, obviously trying to restart the conversation. “I didn't know that.”

Since Eden's only response was to cross her arms over her chest and glare at Calista, it was left to Evie to answer. “There was no reason for you to be aware of that fact.”

Will's eyebrows shot up at her terse reply. His gaze jumped to Eden and then back to Evie. He pressed his lips into a grim line and shook his head, recognizing he'd blundered into another uncomfortable situation.

“Oh, yes,” Calista trilled in a treacly voice. “We had such a gay time, didn't we, Evelyn? You
were
a clumsy girl, forever tripping over things, much to everyone's amusement. I do hope you've grown out of that unfortunate malady.”

“Speaking of clumsy,” Eden said in dulcet tones that would have warned anyone who knew her, “I recall an incident where you ended up with your head in a wash bucket. Or have you forgotten that, Lady Calista?”

Since Eden had been the one to engineer that particular result, it was a good bet Calista hadn't forgotten. It had been in retaliation against Calista and her friends—all haughty, insufferable girls—after they'd placed a bucket of greasy slops against the door to the room where Evie and Eden slept with two other girls. When Evie opened the door, the bucket had tipped over and the slops had gone everywhere. She'd crashed to the floor in the slippery mess, accompanied by gales of laughter from Calista and her band of harpies. Furious, Eden had filled the bucket with ice cold water from the outside pump and dumped it on Calista's head. Evie was sure Calista's outraged screams had been audible for miles.

“I haven't forgotten
anything,
” Calista snapped, her big brown eyes sparking with rage.

“I say, who's for champagne?” Gilbride interjected, leaping to his feet. He waved down a passing waiter and then practically dragged Will up by the collar, claiming they would fetch some cakes from the refreshment table. Gilbride seemed to be lecturing Will as he dragged him off, who didn't look happy to be at the receiving end of a scold.

While Eden and Calista continued their glaring match, Evie turned to Michael and began talking about some financial details regarding the charity's ledgers. She didn't give a hang about the ledgers at this moment but desperately needed something to talk about that did not involve Calista. Fortunately, Michael gamely threw himself into the discussion, finally recognizing he'd committed a capital blunder when he'd invited Calista and Will to sit with them.

A few minutes later, they were joined by Will and Gilbride who unloaded plates full of sweets on the table. When the men were reseated and cakes dished out, Evie returned to her low-voiced conversation with Michael, determined to ignore the hideous little flirtation Calista tried to carry on with Will. Fortunately, Will was having none of it, adopting a stone face that seemed to bring Calista up short.

Unfortunately, that prompted Calista to once more turn her ire on Evie.

“Evelyn,
must
you and Mr. Beaumont go on forever about that boring charity of yours? It hardly seems like polite conversation for a supper party.” She turned to Will and gave him what she must have thought was a charming smile. “Not that our dear little Evelyn was ever adept at polite conversation.”

When Will's only response was to lift an imperious eyebrow, the dreary woman faltered for a moment. But she quickly recovered, redirecting her malicious gaze back at Evie.

“But you clearly disdain such mundane social endeavors because you have much more important things to do, like spending your time with Papists and those dirty Irish peasants you seem so fond of. No wonder you have so few suitors.” Calista's cold gaze flicked to Michael. “Except for ineligible ones, of course, according to poor, dear Lady Reese.”